The operation has usually been done by the abdominal incision, which offers the advantages of greater accessibility of the pedicle for the purpose of ligating the arteries, and also greater ease in getting at the kidney itself, since it has often formed a partly separate pouch in the peritoneum, from which it would not be so easy to dislodge it by the lumbar incision. The latter operation is, as just stated, by no means impracticable nor specially dangerous. Of course it is desirable to avoid for some time after the operation anything which, like the use of diuretics or the excessive secretion of water, will throw any increased work upon the remaining kidney until it has had time to accommodate itself to them. A singular case of attempted excision of a tumor supposed to be a wandering kidney, which could not be found after the incision was made, is recorded.[6] In this case the symptoms, which, as well as the physical signs, had pointed distinctly to a movable kidney, disappeared after the operation. The author compares this case to another, in which great relief was experienced from a pretended operation for the removal of normal ovaries. [Footnote 6: _Hygeia_, 11, 12, 1880, Svensson.] The other operation consists in the fixation of the movable organ. In one case a curved needle bearing a strong tape ligature was passed into the abdominal muscles, through the kidney, and out again. The ligature remained for some time, giving a certain amount of relief from the distressing symptoms, but maintaining a constant discharge until it came away without having accomplished any permanent benefit. The kidney was afterward removed by a lumbar incision, and a deep cicatrix found running longitudinally along the otherwise healthy organ.[7] [Footnote 7: A. W. Smyth, _New Orleans Med. and Surg. Journal_, Aug., 1879.] In other cases[8] a dissection has been made until the kidney was reached, which was then, with its adipose capsule, stitched firmly into {27} the wound. In one of these cases the kidney became somewhat loosened again, but it is possible that the risk of this accident might be avoided by some modification in the operative procedure. If this operation can be made a successful one, and generally accepted, of which as yet the paucity of cases hardly permits us to judge, it is manifestly far preferable to removal, since it leaves in its place an organ usually perfectly capable of performing its functions. [Footnote 8: Hahn, "Fixation of Movable Kidney," _Am. Journ. of Med. Sci._, April, 1882, from _Cbl. für Chirurgie_, 1881.] Polyuria; Diabetes Insipidus.